Tuesday, November 01, 2011

American Friends of Peace Now vs. The Jewish People

Next week, a landmark case goes before the Supreme Court in the United States. Despite the attempts of US Congress to recognize Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel, and the resolutions passed requiring the Embassy of the USA to be moved to Jerusalem...the US State Department refuses to print the word "Israel" when followed by the word "Jerusalem."

A US Citizen born in Jerusalem will not have his US Report of Birth indicate "Jerusalem, Israel", rather the country-less, "Jerusalem." Even sadder, the Obama White House webpage removed all references to "Jerusalem, Israel" and replaced them with the single word, "Jerusalem".

And now...the "American Friends of Peace Now" have decided to join the fray. They have asked to join the case next week, siding with the US State Department, insisting that Jerusalem NOT be recognized as the capital of Israel.

When the psalmist wrote, "If I forget Jerusalem, let my right hand lose its strength," I wonder if he ever thought that Jews would be demanding that the Supreme Court of the United States deny the connection between Israel and its capital city, Jerusalem.

Americans for Peace Now, the U.S. partner of Israel’s leftist Peace Now organization, has filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court in order to oppose listing “Israel” as home country in the passports of those born in Jerusalem.

Since Israel’s founding, the American government has not recognized any sovereignty over Jerusalem, be it Israel, Palestinian or Jordanian. As part of this policy, the U.S. embassy to Israel was established in Tel Aviv, despite a law passed in Congress, calling for the embassy to be moved to Jerusalem.

Furthermore, in passports of Jerusalem-born American citizens, the name of the city appears without any reference to a home country. On the other hand, passports of Tel Aviv-born citizens read “Tel Aviv, Israel”.

In 2002, Congress passed a law which states that any American citizen born in Jerusalem who makes a special request is able to request that “Israel” be written as their country of birth. Former President George W. Bush did not follow the law, stating that the law interferes with the president’s constitutional authority to “conduct the nation’s foreign affairs and to supervise the unitary executive branch.”

On the other hand, the law does not allow Palestinian residents of Jerusalem to list “Palestine” in their passports, despite regulations which allow Palestinians born in East Jerusalem before 1948 to list “Palestine”, with no reference to Jerusalem (Palestine was considered an official sovereign entity before the founding of the state of Israel).

Three months after the law passed, Menachem Zivotofsky was born in Jerusalem. His parents, both of whom are American citizens, requested his passport to list Israel as the country of birth. When the U.S. embassy refused, the family appealed to the U.S. Federal Court. A federal judge rejected the appeal, stating that the matter was a “political matter”.

The family refused to give up, and decided to appeal to the Supreme Court, which will decide next week on which authority is responsible for recognition of the sovereignty of foreign countries.

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Not by accident that these people are called leftists or 'lefties.' The Latin and Greek roots for 'left' are sinistro and sinesteron, the same roots that give us the word 'sinister,' meaning threatening or portending evil, harm, or trouble; ominous, base, or wicked; unfortunate; disastrous; unfavorable. Trying to separate 'Jerusalem' from 'Israel' puts you so far to the left that the degree of wickedness is stupendous.

American Friends of Peace Now is the same as "Peace Now" in Israel (in fact, they are to the right of Israel's "Peace Now").

When you say, "most leftists" -- what party do you see these people voting for?

Most of the Labor party voters? Most of the Meretz voters?

I think that even Tzipi Livni would support this, in order to "provide a framework for peace talks to advance." She, and many others would say that its not "helpful" or "productive" for "peace" to force this issue...and who cares at the end of the day what it says on a passport or birth certificate, all that matters is that Jerusalem is Israel's capital, regardless of who recognizes it.

I honestly don't think that most "leftists" are "horrified" by this. Twenty years ago, this would have been horrifying to center-left Israelis. I think the "horror" has eroded as the Oslo process has progressed.

Meretz activist: "Ah, so you do live in a settlement! You just don't consider it to be a settlement."

Me: "Well, it's part of the Jerusalem municipality, which is part of Israel."

Meretz activist: (rolling her eyes) "Yeah, I suppose you would consider that to be part of Israel."

Me: "Why, don't you? The government considers it to be part of Israel."

Meretz activist: (rolling her eyes again) "Yeah, they would."

It was clear that in the eyes of the Meretz party activist, anyone who regards the Jerusalem municipality to be part of Israel is a "right-wing extremist". It is highly unlikely that she, or her fellow travellers, are "horrified" at all by the anti-Jerusalem position taken by American Friends of Peace Now. To the contrary, there can be little doubt that they fully support it.

Ok, I (was) a Meretz voter, and, (just for you Lurker, as you know) absolutely consider Har Homa to be technically a settlement, nevertheless fully acknowledging the complexities of the Jerusalem issue. I live in Jerusalem too :-)

But again- most Leftists (even many of the ones affiliated Gush Shalom here) simiarly appreciate the complexities of the Jerusalem issue, and as such do not agree with the stance taken by American Friends of Peace Now. In the same way as I know that the extreme right fringe don't speak for you, please don't tar an entire political bloc with the rantings of the delusional and uninformed knee-jerkers!

Um, just by using the word "complexities of the Jerusalem issue," you're pretty much taking the Peace Now side. What, exactly, is so "complex?"

And by the way, I assume the kid was born in Ein Karem (Haddasa) or Bayit Vegan (Shaarei Tzedek). Both are well within pre-1967 Israel. So is Bikkur Holim; so, in fact, is Haddasa Har HaTzofim. (It was an enclave.) These places are "complex" (i.e., not Israeli) only to those who still hold by the 1947 borders (in practical terms, the Arabs get the whole city). Oddly, the US State Department does here- but the rest of 1947's "Arab State" is called "Israel." Weird.

It was a Jewish-American hate organization calling for an immediate peace with Hitler and Fascism.

The FBI withdrew its wire-tapping of Peace Now in 1940 in expectation that the organization would be prosecuted for subversion after the War. However, the U.S. State Department declined to prosecute. I assume that then, as now. the State Department viewed it favorably.

Peace Now hides its own true address and history with its guileful "American Friends of..." misnomer.

Peace Now continues to support Fascism in its Islamic form and the destruction of Jews.